LFP present their Ligue 1 channel as broadcasting woes continue | OneFootball

As the wrangling over a domestic broadcasting rights deal in France looks set to continue with only a few months remaining before the start of the new Ligue 1 season, the LFP have presented a radical new plan to its board of directors.

According to L’Équipe, the league outlined in a meeting today attended by various club presidents the details for a new project: a channel dedicated exclusively to broadcasting Ligue 1. The channel would reportedly rely on at least seven potential distributors: four ISPs (Free, Bouygues, SFR, and Orange), Amazon Prime Video, Molotov TV, and Google TV.

The deal would offer the league no minimum guarantees nor would it offer any fixed sum, and instead the LFP would be relying on a percentage share of each subscriber recruited by the distributors.

The plan looks to be in its early stages although L’Équipe have reported that the LFP have already bought broadcasting resources such as a control room, so that they will be ready in time for the start of the campaign in August.

The French outlet further revealed that the CVC investment fund were present at the meeting and were thought to be supportive of this project. The fund have previously invested €1.5 billion into the LFP for 13.04% of all future French football revenue.

Ligue 1 faced with few options ahead of the new season

All other avenues have stalled for the LFP. More traditional approaches have seen the league reduce their asking price by half in the face of no bids coming close to their evaluation. While their second option of a Ligue 1 channel made by beIN Sports and distributed exclusively by Canal+ has yet to take shape – or possibly never even existed according to the French broadcaster.

This leaves the LFP with their plan C. A project that may begin to pick up momentum if other avenues do not soon open up.

GFFN | Nick Hartland